Freedom from Guilt

No one likes to feel guilty. Like an unwelcome guest, guilt shows up at the worst possible time and does not go away no matter how much you wish it would.

Yet the truth is that we need guilt. It is the only proper response to any offense, whether a selfish thought or premeditated murder. Even a nonbeliever wants a burglar to feel remorse for his theft. Why? Because he should. Guilt exposes the truth that we wish to avoid: we have all sinned. John puts it this way: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1:8).

But John does not leave us with this dismal picture of ourselves. Instead, he goes on to paint a glorious portrait of a forgiving God. This is our only hope: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1:9). Guilt does more than just deliver the distressing news. It unlocks the door to forgiveness. Progress, change, reform, and most important of all, God’s forgiveness all start with confession.

Confession works against the worst part of human nature, the part that imagines itself to be better than it really is. What person has not felt, “I’m not perfect, but I’m not as bad as my next-door neighbor”? This mindset always stops short of confessing; it would rather ignore or ease feelings of guilt than admit them. But only open confession of our sins will completely cleanse us. Only when we admit that we are sinners, unworthy of God’s grace, can we make a fresh start.

C. S. Lewis said that “No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good.” Similarly, we can never know how much we need freedom until we try to unload our burden of sin. Yet God’s forgiveness will liberate us to begin anew on the path of righteousness.

Taken from NKJV Study Bible